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Summary List of stories Phase II Night: Ashes, Metal, And Corruption << chapter 70 Chapter 71 of 75 Determined Damnation chapter 72 >> << previous scene Scene 1 of 2 next scene >> Location Participants Time Summary Prologue | Phase I | Phase II | Epilogue 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 Text "We can do this! We have to do this!" Twilight Sparkle shouted, looking back and forth between her friends, who all looked back at her uncertainly, fearfully. After all, they had never faced anything like this before: Discord, Chrysalis, they had been powerful, true... but they had not been... like this. Like the monster out there... a real monster, a murdering monster, who was burning, destroying, slaughtering... who had no mercy, who seemed so absolutely unstoppable. They didn't know where Celestia or Luna were. All they knew that for as far as the eye could see, there was death, there was rot, there was fire and ice. The monster had set the world aflame, was torturing and tormenting ponies, was building up awful structures of steel and stone. And it was like they six had been purposefully overlooked... while the dragon-shaped creature had picked off, one by one, the foals, their friends, their families... The Elements of Harmony gleamed around their necks, reflecting the tears on many of their faces as they looked at one-another, terrified, not knowing what to do, not know what to believe... but still, they gathered behind Twilight. Her words guided them, gave them strength, and gave them direction, told them the things they already knew to be true but were too afraid to act on... They found the monster in a field, and the Jötnar smiled as he turned towards them, bowing politely once as if he had been waiting for them the whole time. In the distance, they could see Canterlot, a terrible broken wreck that was being steadily burnt away into nothingness as he gestured the once-beautiful castle, the symbol of unity that had become nothing more than ravaged ruins. "What do you think, ponies? I'm destroying all that isn't necessary, to rebuild it in my image... I'd forgotten what fun it can be to take this time, now and then, to simply enjoy my power and my handiwork..." "Why are you doing this? Why can't you just leave us alone?" Twilight shouted, and Valthrudnir only threw his head back and laughed. "As if I should waste my time trying to explain such concepts to such uncultured, plebeian minds as yours... there's not a drop of worthy knowledge and intelligence among your kind, is there?" Valthrudnir flicked his wrist in disgust and dismissal. "You're less than common. You ignorant, unwashed ponies, you are all nothing but festering garbage-slugs upon the reeking decay of a decadent, uninspired dung-heap." He leaned forwards, grinning mockingly. "That means I don't like you or your world, little ponies, to put it all in small words you can understand." Rainbow Dash shouted, but Twilight held up a hoof before she gritted her teeth, then called over her shoulder: "Girls! Use the Elements, focus!" "Oh yes. Your so called Elements of Harmony. I've been waiting for this." Valthrudnir crossed his arms, laughing as he shook his head slowly. "Celestia put such stock in you all. Let's see if she was right to... it's too bad her pretty, precious beliefs didn't do anything but make killing her and her lackey easier." Twilight looked up with horror, and ponies all trembled before tears began to spill down Twilight's cheeks, and she leaned forwards, shrieking: "I won't let you hurt anyone else!" "I've heard that many times, little pony." Valthrudnir reached a hand forwards, then clenched it slowly into a fist, smiling coldly as he said softly: "And not a single person has been able to stop me yet... much less some low-brow filthy animal such as yourself." Twilight snarled, her eyes and horn beginning to glow as the Elements of Harmony all began to gleam, and Valthrudnir smiled calmly, giving them the time, letting them build that link, charge up that power as the force of it lifted Twilight into the air. The gemstone in the tiara on her head glowed brighter and brighter as the collars gleamed and sparked... and then Twilight's eyes snapped open, glaring white, staring across at Valthrudnir and filled not just with harmony, but hatred from this... this awful thing as the magic poured out of her and the others, taking on the form of a bright rainbow that tore across their charred reality and slammed down towards Valthrudnir... And the monster only laughed, shielding his eyes with one arm, the rainbow of magic and power and harmonious energy crashing into this as he said mockingly: "Is this the best you can do? Your weak queen in her ignoble throne proved to be more worthy than this. How foolish, how absolutely... pathetic!" With that, Valthrudnir swung his arm out, and the rainbow of energy turned to glass in a ripple; glass that promptly shattered and exploded into glimmering dust, knocking the six ponies staggering with screams and sending Twilight crashing to the ground with a gargle, shocks of agony ripping through them as the Jötnar smiled and rose a hand. "A demonstration." He snapped his fingers... and Twilight felt the Element of Magic resting on her head tremble violently before the gemstone shattered. And one by one, the others inset into their collars exploded into fragments, ponies screaming and howling as Valthrudnir said softly: "Such low and... childish magic. I have nothing but contempt for you and your kind, requiring glass lenses to look through and harness what you excuse as 'power...'" Twilight looked up... and then she screamed, not knowing what else to do, what else to say, as she ran forwards, and the others followed her... but they were no match for him. He toyed with them, slapping Rainbow Dash from the air and punting Applejack like a toy, picking up Pinkie Pie and slamming her into Rarity before crushing them both into the ground, stepping on Twilight Sparkle and grinding her into the earth as he drove a fist down into Fluttershy to nearly break her back. He snapped limbs, left bruises and bloody wounds, and mocked them the entire time he beat them all mercilessly, the ponies unable to do anything but suffer at his claws until he was satisfied. He snapped his fingers... and with just that, they were each sent to their different Hells. Their different prisons... all except Twilight Sparkle, who lay bleeding in front of him, staring weakly up at the Jötnar as he squatted in front of her and said softly: "I'm going to take all your friends away from you now, one-by-one. You see, in almost every world, you and your friends have some kind of role. Are treated as if you are special. No, no, don't attempt to wrap your tiny, philistine mind around the concept I am generously attempting to explain, you cannot understand it with your insignificant mental capacity. "Pay attention to this instead, which with your hive mentality for your pretty little friends, you should at least be able to understand." Valthrudnir leaned slowly down, smiling ruthlessly as he held up a single finger and twirled it easily. "I'm going to twist each of your friends around on their heads. I'm going to indulge my curiosities, and include you and your friends in the design for the new world order I am going to bring about here, as part of my testing ground for what should be an extremely interesting little project." "N-No..." Twilight rasped, and Valthrudnir laughed before she whispered: "Won't... won't let... you..." "Oh, really?" Valthrudnir reached down and flicked her nose mockingly, and Twilight moaned in pain and shivered on the field. "This isn't a child's cartoon, little equus ferus caballus. This is real life, where good and evil do not exist as you would like them to, where decisions and errors of judgment have very real consequences that cannot simply be undone just because you want them to. Where no one is incorruptible, and we all have secrets inside ourselves, secrets we are desperate to keep, to lock away, to never think about..." "S-Stop..." Twilight whispered, trembling, and Valthrudnir smiled coldly down at her as she shivered weakly on the ground. "I believe in them..." "Good. Go back home, Twilight Sparkle. To your pretty little library. I'll return for you once I finish dealing with your friends..." Valthrudnir stood straight, laughing as he rubbed his hands together easily. "Yes, they will serve me well. Even better once I convince them to see the world my way, and they accept my gifts willingly... it will make them far easier to control." Twilight trembled and whimpered, and Valthrudnir smiled coldly down at her... but it was only the beginning. Almost every day, Valthrudnir visited her... mocking her, and extracting information from her, and goading her into conversations. Talking arrogantly about how he was torturing and warping her friends... but never hurting her, constantly telling her it was all for their own good, extolling that the world he was building would be peaceful and flawless. And within a month, Valthrudnir had done it: one-by-one her friends had fallen... as well as countless other ponies, transformed into awful machinations, all with their own purpose, so many built to destroy. But as Twilight had stared in horror at them from the ruins of the burnt-out library, Valthrudnir had said calmly: "Not destroy, oh no. They are going to be spreading my message... they are going to be aggressively defending our goals. Our goal, after all, is a universe where everything works, where there is law and ultimate order... not all this paltry, worthless chaos." "But there will still be parties, and fun..." whispered Delight, looking almost pleadingly at Twilight as she smiled with her too large teeth. "Join us." "We can be together. Together forever. Family and friends, all looking out for each other." Valor said softly, raising her head and gazing out with her sister's eyes from beneath the brim of her hat. "Yeah, Twilight. No more lies, or goin' behind each other's back. Achieving out dreams. Our real dreams, not... having to listen to what ponies say we can or can't do." Courage added, voice sharp but eyes begging. "We can search for knowledge together... we'll have more in common under Valthrudnir than we ever did left to our own devices." Beauty murmured, looking up with a faint smile. "Please, Twilight. We need you. And together, we can bring peace to this world... to all the worlds..." Prudence said quietly, bowing her head forwards respectfully. For a few long moments, there was silence... and then Valthrudnir smiled when Twilight looked up with teary eyes, whispering: "What do you want me to do? I can't... you were right. You won... but... I can't... I can't fight this. I can't just turn my back on all my friends and leave them..." She shivered, then smiled weakly as tears finally spilled down her face, before Valthrudnir said kindly: "I want you to walk with me, Twilight Sparkle, and I'll take you to a place where you can be made whole... where you can become what you have always been, the tie that binds, the central gear that keeps these five running smoothly..." Twilight nodded weakly, and her five transformed friends all smiled and parted for her, letting her follow the Jötnar out. And together, with the five following behind them, they walked for hours, as Valthrudnir bragged and monologued and Twilight listened numbly. When it got too hard to listen, she looked over her shoulder at her friends, who all looked up at Valthrudnir with belief and zealotry in their eyes... so bit-by-bit, she forced herself to believe, too. Twilight wasn't sure when or how they arrived, but eventually they stood in front of an enormous well, filled with silver liquid. And Valthrudnir smiled at her calmly as she looked back at him, before he said softly: "I could just throw you in, but that would defeat the purpose of this exercise. Climb in, and let it swallow you up, and you have my word... when you emerge, it will be into a new world, where you will be content, where you will be strong... where knowledge is power and wisdom is the greatest virtue of all." "Wisdom..." Twilight whispered... and when she looked over her shoulder, at her five transformed friends as they smiled and nodded to her, gestured to her eagerly... she slowly walked forwards, up the stone, small steps at the side of the well... and she took a deep breath before plunging in. There was silence that lasted for a few long minutes, Delight eventually whimpering and tugging at Valthrudnir's pant-leg worriedly, but he only grimaced in disgust and kicked her away. And then a metallic hoof emerged... and a moment later, silvery Wisdom crawled out of the well, dripping with the material that her entire body had become, her eyes glowing and her horn sparking as she whispered: "I feel... strange..." "Yes, it's bonded well with you..." Valthrudnir grinned slowly as Wisdom staggered over the edge of the well, his eyes glowing as he reached out and touched her horn with a single finger, and Wisdom gasped as a spark shocked through her system before her old colors returned. "Wisdom, my perfect savior, my chosen one. Beneath only the Prophet, beneath the Clockwork King. Come, we shall speak further. Perhaps now that I have elevated your existence to something with meaning, I can elevate your mind to something capable of comprehension, if not true understanding and intelligence." And as Valthrudnir turned away, the world turned to darkness as Wisdom lowered her head and whispered: "It was all inevitable. My friends... all turned to darkness. But I'd be lying if I said he lured me in with just that... he lured me in with a promise of power, a promise of knowledge, a promise of... no, not love. He does not love, and I never fooled myself into believing that. But... he replaced Celestia. I need, have always needed... someone to look up to..." Wisdom silently turned towards Scrivener Blooms... and then she reached up and scrubbed quickly at her features with a hoof, and when she lowered it, her face was somehow... softer. It was not Wisdom... it was Twilight Sparkle, as she smiled and whispered: "Thank you, Scrivener Blooms, whoever... whatever you are. In these brief moments as I fade away, I... I feel relief. I know my friends must have, too. I understand now..." The Twilight that had become Wisdom closed her eyes and tilted her head upwards... and in a flash, there were five other ponies around her, smiling, happy, free of the evil that had infected them all before Twilight whispered: "Oh god, Scrivener... Scrivener, no, no, don't die... please don't die... p-please don't die..." Scrivener frowned slowly at this... and then his eyes blinked once, then twice as he looked up, and grunted, his frame flexing, his eyes glowing for a moment as corruption leaked down his features. Then he smiled weakly after a moment as he gazed up at Twilight Sparkle, reaching a hoof up and silently stroking her face, smearing bloody tears over her cheek as he murmured: "I'm okay." "Scrivener!" Luna leapt forwards, and Scrivener groaned when the sapphire mare all but tackled him, burying her face against his neck and trembling as she whispered: "Damn thee, Scrivy, I... I thought..." "He is fine. We would not simply let him die. We would not let any of you die." added another voice softly, and Scrivener winced and looked up in shock at this to see Gymbr standing next to Celestia, who was only sitting with her head bowed, trembling a little. "It is good to see you awake, and well." "I... what?" Scrivener gently pushed Luna back, shaking his head out before he sat up, then looked over at Twilight with a wince as she smiled faintly and rubbed at her face, the stitching covering her body pulsing slowly. "Twilight..." "I... it'll just... take some adjustments." Twilight glanced away for a moment silently, and then she shook her head and returned her eyes to Scrivener, asking finally: "Are you sure you're okay? I... Scrivy, you fainted, and we thought your heart stopped, and... the mire..." Scrivener frowned a bit as he glanced down... then realized with shock that the ground beneath them in a wide radius had transformed, rotting into dark, bog-like corruption. He hurriedly leapt up to his hooves... and all eyes looked up at him with surprise. All eyes except for Gymbr, that was, the Tulpa only smiling as it said quietly: "Just as we had hoped. But please, excuse us. We desire to see Scarlet Sage... we desire to help her as well. It feels good to help." Before anyone could speak, Gymbr simply rolled its head on its shoulders before vanishing from sight, and Celestia trembled a little, staring at the space the creature had been in before for a moment. Then she clenched her eyes shut, dropping her head forwards and whispering as Scrivener, Twilight, and Luna all looked at her: "I am so sorry, my friends. Again, I've failed you all, as... seems to be what I am good at. I failed to protect your children, to protect your friends, I failed to protect... you, Twilight Sparkle. Twice... look... look what I've done to you, out of greed, out of need to have you in my life. And I failed you, too, Scrivener... this could have killed you, torn you apart from the inside out..." "Stop, Celestia. Stop." Twilight said quietly, shaking her head and dropping to her hooves as she smiled faintly, and she slowly strode over to the armored, ivory equine, reaching up to touch her armored chest gently, stroking hoof slowly over golden plate as Celestia looked down at her with miserable eyes. "I started this. I tied my spirit to the music box, poured all of my life into it that I could, hoping... hoping for something like this. Because... I can't leave you, and Luna, and Scrivener alone. Especially not... Luna and Scrivener." She laughed faintly, glancing over her shoulder at the two as they both smiled a little, and then she drew her eyes slowly back up to Celestia, saying quietly: "You and Gymbr... saved my life. You didn't... turn me into a monster, I don't... feel like a monster." Twilight looked down quietly, reaching up and touching her chest. "I've died... but I feel more alive now than I ever have before. I just... need... to adjust." She reached up, silently stroking over the stitching covering her chest, and Celestia closed her eyes as she turned her head away, asking quietly: "I wonder if any of us can escape the destinies the Norns wrote for us... or if one way or another, we'll all end up... what they decided we should be..." "Celestia... 'tis not like thee to get this way after a battle. 'Tis not like thee to allow... pain and unnecessary heartache and self-loathing to overwhelm thy common sense." Luna said quietly, striding slowly forwards before she smiled faintly and looked up, gesturing at herself. "Look upon me, Celestia. Look, I am... my son still, he is missing, my daughter lost in illness, but my husband is not dead and Twilight Sparkle is..." She looked silently to the side, and Twilight blushed and lowered her head a bit. "She is still Twilight Sparkle, and that is enough for me, for now. Please, Celestia... raise thy head. Shove away these unwelcome thoughts... let thy callous, logical mind work around the details and come back to us, big sister." Celestia looked silently at Luna for a moment, and then she closed her eyes and nodded slowly, looking nervously back and forth before she blinked and reared back in surprise when Twilight hugged her suddenly and fiercely, burying her face against the larger mare as she whispered: "Thank you. For doing everything you could." The ivory mare closed her eyes... but after a moment, returned the embrace as tight as she dared, and Scrivener and Luna both smiled faintly as they stood up and prepared to head back home. Category:Transcript Category:Story